george bush lost at least two, probably three debates to john kerry, still beat him in the general so i am less persuaded the debates are foundational to any election. >> woodruff: one other thing i want to ask you about, more attention this week to inrnational news. we are the u.n. general assembly, the speech by the iranian leader, the speech by prime minister netanyahu of israel, the president spoke. that's now in the air, today and yesterday romney's campaigning in sort of a military setting. could foreign policy suddenly rise up and be a bigger issue in this campaign. >> i think it's going to be less of an issue after benjamin netanyahu's speech yesterday. i think there was a concern, a real concern that if netanyahu thought that obama was ing to be re-ected, that the likelihood or the possibility of israel attacking the iranian reactor before the election with the expectation they wouldn't get as good a deal in the second term of obama increased. and yesterday i think he took that off the table. i think now he's talking about next spring, and i think so there is less like leehoo